20 Best Hooks For Texas Rig (2023 Updated)

Been using these in the Sound on Hatteras Island for a month now and love how they do on the grass. The weedless presentation deflects most of the grass which is a must. I prefer swimming and bouncing jigs versus using popping corks and these jigs do well.

Also I don’t need a loop style knot because this jig has a free swinging eye on it which provides the action for you. I tie a Paloma’s knot which is much more long lasting than any loop knot!.

Title sums it up really. They’re great super sharp hooks, but they are NOT 100% closed. My 5lb PowerPro braid line tied with a uni knot slips through occasionally, which is pretty annoying. I use pliers to cinch the eye a bit to help close it.

Been using these same hooks with live shrimps for the past 30 years. Whether fishing salt water from the docks, on the reefs or in the marsh, this hook has been a favorite hook for best presentation of a live shrimps and caught hundreds of nice fish from Mangrove Snappers, Sheepheads, Jacks, Pompanos, Snooks, Blues, Drums, Red fish and many other species.

The only problem is somtime hard to find.

I use this style Mustad hook to tie a certain grass carp fly. The offset hook helps in the hookset. As for strength, I’ve only had 1 22lb grass carp bend the hook point a little. With the material tied on, the hook has a very slow sink rate that doesn’t spook the fish.

Hopefully the hook doesn’t get discontinued.

The Eagle Claw circle hooks are the best circle hooks for the price. There may be more expensive hooks, bigger name brand hooks, but I think these are just as good. I use circle hooks in the 6/0 size (redfish in the surf) to the 12/0 size (surf fishing for sharks).

Anything smaller than 6/0, I use the Eagle Claw Kahle hook. For the circle hooks, I have been crimping 60lb wire to them or crimping 100lb mono. For the 12/0, I use 170lb wire. That’s how I roll.

great hooks. I have caught bull reds and big stripers with these hooks and they have never failed me. I like the way this design hooks the fish for easy release. They really hold up well in salt water.

Top quality hooks – fast service. You can’t go wrong

Been using these in 3/0s and 4/0s for years. I have tried a lot of other styles and sizes and always come back to using these for plastic worm or brush hog fishing. I almost never miss a fish with them.

The only negative is they do rust if your using salted plastics. I was glad to find them online because they are aren’t available around here any longer.

Have used these worm hooks for many, many years. They provide excellent hook-ups on bass. Finally had to replenish some stock after 25 yrs. Talk about sticker shock. Will continue to use although they are 4 times pricier than a std worm hook.

I use these Tru Turns (#1s & 2s) for all types of bait. Worms, live, rubber, and more. I find the turn it makes at the bite is almost unbeatable and it does not miss often. And the fish do not swallow it as often so C&R is easier.

One of the best hooks that I have personally purchased and used. The rugged V shaped appearance is what initially caught my attention. I was immediately satisfied with its performance when my wife hooked her first hog fish on her first ever trip to Gulf on Hubbard’s marina 10 hr trip.

Pros: The offset of the hook enables for better hook sets. Thin but sturdy gauge allows for more sensitivity when feeling for the bite Con’s: Hooks can be sharper.

They are not more springy, with a thinner wire than competitors’ hooks. They do not have a dramatically tighter eye, with a much finer finish than competitors’ hooks. The micro-barbs have not absolutely convinced me that I land something like 30% more fish with these hooks, that otherwise would tailwalk and spit competitors’ hooks.

I absolutely, unequivocally am not convinced that these are the finest, most efficacious hooks on the market, and that VMC should get an award for this thing. Leave them to me, friend. Buy competitors’ hooks, and leave them to me.

When I first saw the Neko hook I thought that it was simply a marketing gimmick. However, after seeing the hooks up close in the store I realized that VMC created the perfect hook for Neko rig fishing.

The barbed hook is offset 3 degrees for better hook ups. The wide hook gap allows the hook to double as a wacky style hook. The size of the hook gap fits a wacky rigged Senko worm perfectly, so you are not locked into one style of rig when you get out on the water.

If you are not familiar with Neko rigs, I suggest that you Google: “Neko Rig”. I ended up purchasing the size 1 VMC Nico hook. I have my VMC Neko hook rigged with 8 pound fluorocarbon line straight to the hook.

I have been using the 1/16 oz. VMC Half Moon Wacky weight as well. The other day I went to my favorite pond and I caught 13 bass in less than one hour using the Neko rig with a Zoom Z3 Swamp Crawler (MM III color).

Almost every hookup was through the top of bass’s mouth and I rarely lost any of my plastic lures. As I mentioned, it also works extremely well with a wacky style Senko worm. The package comes with six hooks and I have put one hook on my line and that one hook has remained on my line ever since.

I have caught over 20 bass in each of my last two outings with the Neko rig.

Very quick delivery service. I fish a lot over rocky ground and lose a lot of hard lures due to hooks. These wire guard, wacky weedless are just what I’ve been looking for. They can be obtained in 4/O to replace treble hooks and have a nice big eye that allows attachment to the lure.

He hook is nice and sharp. Due to lockdown I’ve not been able to use them but they are fitted and ready to go.

Probably like other reviewers, I’ve been fishing regularly most of my life. I began fishing at 8 years of age and began using weightless plastics at 12 years of age (and I’m 49 now). I began using wacky rigs a few years ago.

I recently purchased these hooks and I’ll readily admit I’ve caught a ‘few’ fish but have lost at least 6-7 for every fish I’ve caught. I use a 7’3″ MH Cashion worming’ rod with fast action and rest assured, I’m quite experienced in both rigging and hook set.

I’m not sure if this is a common problem with most weedless wacky rigs or if it’s VMC who just got it wrong. Their Tokyo rigs are effective. Not sure what happened here, but whatever it was, save your money.

Great for those weedy and snaggy areas. Wish I had these when I was up in Canada as most of the lakes we fished were very weedy. Going to try them with live bait too, should work well with shiners, we will see.

The perfect live bait inshore hook. I use this hook for live shrimp for speckled trout, redfish, sheepshead and pretty much any other inshore species.

Great hooks for making pompano rigs. Believe me 2/0 k hooks work the best in my opinion. They catch the 1lb and my biggest 4lb pompano. Owner hooks seem to last longer than any other hook before they start to rust.

I use these hooks on Texas coast mainly for reds and trout, works great with live croakers and shrimp. Very sharp points for great hook sets. Very strong hook also. Would highly recommend this hook.

This hook is almost the best! With the Sproat bend (provides holding power for both baits and fish), Cutting Point, slightly beyond 90 degree up bend that helps make rigging easy, a little bit heavier wire than most, along with the fact that fish rarely throw it, all combined make it my personal favorite for Texas or Tex-posed rigging.

I also love the Red color that is available, but the Black Nickel finish is excellent too, as those two finishes available from this brand will almost never rust when stored properly. I do recommend filing down the barb, at least partially, for the Cutting Point alone will hold in any fish just fine by itself and I personally think the barb is too big for my whimsical hooksets anyway while I have also witnessed too much tearing of flesh when the barb is not reduced.

Bottom line is that Owner is one brand that I can count on for consistency in quality and dependability in just about everything that they produce.

Stupid Sharp don’t need to jerk for the stars these hooks bury deep and keeps those fish buttoned if you don’t use these your fishing alright but I use them and it’s now called catching! Try them out you will see and feel what I mean!!.

I use them with 9 inch zinger xcites and gt soft plastics and have had great success with them super sharp!

The Gamakatsu hooks are strong, durable and come razor sharp. under certain conditions, I touch up the sharpness to slightly modify the angle of penetration for salmon and steelhead. Using the correct model of Gamakatsu hook for your intended use will make it such that you should never be disappointed on its performance or wish you had used a different manufacturer’s hook.

This is the best little hook to catch small bait fish while on the saltwater pier. This is a strong little hook and won’t bend when the fish grab hold. The point is very sharp to ensure a quick hook set.

You cant do better than Gamakatsu hooks. Wanted to try this style deep dropping for grouper and snapper

These hooks use narrower gauge wire than others, and they come sharp and stay sharper longer than any others I have used (i. e. eagle claw and Owner). I’ve use the same hooks on a bottom rig for 3 full days of surf fishing and they still caught fish.

Only drawback is the eyes on the smaller sized hooks will only hold one strand 12lb. test (okay, I could use lighted line), so snelling them is a challenge.

I use these hooks on the flats for seatrout and redfish using 5in soft plastic jerkbaits. I use size 4/0. When the grass is sparse I simply hook the plastic jerkbait through the nose and fish it. These hooks have their points in-line with the very end of the hook shank (up by the eye) which lets me fish the plastics nose-hooked with minimal weeding–up.

If the grass gets too thick and the nose hooked baits start getting weeded-up I rig the jerk baits in the traditional weedless manner and these hooks fish fine in that manner as well. The cutting point is very sharp and the hooks work well in the salty environment.

Good hooks for rigging slightly smaller baits. You get a bigger hook with bigger gap on a shorter hook

I recently read an article in one of the national bass fishing magazines, going over the different hooks available at the start of this season. The Owner hooks were mentioned and it reminded me of how good these were when I’ve used them in the past.

I use these on a 7′ med. rod with heavy Nanofil (purchased at BPS), and throw most of my plastics with one of these. I love the hookset, so confident that the point will penetrate and hold the fish.

The Viper G2 is made by Armsan (Turkey), imported and sold by Tristar (Kansas City). I have owned a 20 GA Raptor by Tristar and my first 28 GA shotgun was the Weatherby SA-08 (also made by Armsan), which was an earlier version of this Viper (G1?).

I bought the Viper because the Beretta A400 I usually shoot was down for repair (part on backorder). After 3 weeks and 300 shells, we repaired the Beretta and had a shootout. The Viper patterned low right with the stock full choke, so I replaced it with a Carlson extended (full).

The Carlson improved and tightened the pattern, but still a bit low right. The A400 has the stock Beretta choke, which patterns almost dead-on, with some SW-NE emphasis, and not as tight as the Carlson.

My partner and I shot the Viper for one round (50 shells) and the Beretta for the next. I shot the Beretta slightly better; he shot the Viper considerably better. So much for shootouts. The Viper has the most rational trigger group of current semi-auto shotguns.

We disassembled it entirely (including the safety) after the first shooting. Nothing much needed smoothing; just did it to see if we could. The bolt is an improvement over my old SA-08. The extractor pin and firing pin retaining pin are retained from below (must be driven out upwards), and cannot walk when shooting.

They are solid, not roll, pins, but still very well done. The firing pin return spring is now very strong (a result of the Weatherby recall?). The recoil spring is tightly wound about the magazine, with no plastic retainer or other gadget, and works perfectly so far.

The magazine cap uses the magazine spring for tension, so no extra spring and detent. Yes, it loosens while shooting, but so does the A400 with its fancy detent system. We had to replace the no-tools-needed firing pin retaining pin on the A400 with a 3×14 mm roll pin (same as H&K and Sigsauer), because it started walking during shooting.

The A400 bolt is more troublesome to clean, but it is a rotating head (not the old Browning lockup as on the Viper). The Viper has no ejector, saving 3 or 4 parts over the A400, but ejects about 3 feet away instead of 20 feet away like the A400.

The Viper came with 3 drop shims and a cast shim. The stock screw (bolt) is standard, and we installed the largest drop shim, giving almost perfect fit. The A400 came with combination drop-cast shims.

To drop the stock, we had to cast it right or left. Technically, the only question is parts supply from Turkey, with its continuing (and increasing) political problems. For the difference in money, the Viper is an easy choice.

But the A400 is somewhat lighter and more fun to shoot and looks better, even though the wood on the Viper is very nice (chequering very aggressive, but we shoot with gloves). Ran 25 high velocity shells through the Viper first, then our usual Fiocchi nr 8’s.

No problems of any kind. Of the half dozen Turkish shotguns I have owned, this is easily the best.

I am still on the fence with this jig. I am a finesse, jig, shaky head fisher. So I have lots of jigs in a variety of configurations. This is similar to the Jig Rig AKA the Jika Rig and I have been catching a ton of fish using it.

My biggest fish this year have been on the Jig Rig and I have been only using it for a little over a month. Lots of 3,4,5 pound bass caught using it. I thought the Tokyo rig would be the same. I have not caught anything on it so far because I am not throwing it enough.

Every time I pick up the smallest version #2 it just seems too large to fit finesse fishing. If you are a deep water power fisher this might work. The jury is still out, I need to use it more.

Owner straight shank hooks are my all time favorite. Top quality, super strong and sharp. I like the XXX because its thicker, thus stronger, and works well with thick plastic. The straight shank allows the hook to come out of the plastic without getting fouled up inside the bait.

After 32 years in the tackle business, I’ve learned the two things you cannot pinch pennies on, line and hooks.

I had several good fish to get off the hook before I switched back to a barbed hook. the barbed hook took care of the problem. I did give the barbless hook a honest effort.

I bought the 5 pack to make sure i will like them. Fished for springers floating eggs, first hook up i knew i needed more of these hooks. the hook set was good, they really take a lot for them fish to get them out of there mouth.

will recommend these hooks and be buying more.

These hooks are great. Could be a little thicker gauge. I have bent a few. But, I really like the shallower gap. EWG just have too much of a gap for most of the baits they are intended for. The slimmer profile of these hooks keeps the bait looking more natural, and doesn’t interfere when a fish attempts to bite.

Wish there were some like this with a jig head, like zman’s pro bulletz. And even some with a keel weight and chin lock.